In intravenous therapy, a needle attached to a tube is placed in the vein of the patient, typically near a limb joint such as the elbow or the upper forearm where veins are accessible, and infusion, transfusion, or other procedures or therapies are performed by drawing or passing fluids through the tube. It is desirable in many instances to support the limb in the vicinity of the IV site to restrict movement. This is particularly true with younger patients, as well as incapacitated or unconscious patients, who might have difficulty maintaining a proper arm position.
A prior practice for immobilizing the arm has been to place a short board or splint along the limb and to secure the limb to the board. Keeping an arm straight in this manner is generally uncomfortable, and often attempts are made to mitigate the discomfort by placing padding in various locations on the splint or board. While some discomfort is thereby alleviated, stiffness and aching usually remain.
Other approaches have recognized that the natural position of the arm is not straight at the elbow but presents an angle. Thus, arm boards in a more natural shape have been tried. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,722,508 to Roberts, a plastic arm immobilizer is in a shape of a U-shape channel which itself is contoured to be complimentary to the shape of an arm in the vicinity of the elbow. In another approach, shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,812,851 to Rodriguez, a slightly flexible arm support allowing limited elbow movement is provided. This immobilizer includes a panel overlying the forearm and a support panel underlying the upper arm, with the panels being joined by a flexible spiral section allowing limited flexure between the two panels.
All of these solutions rely upon rigid materials, either molded plastic contoured shapes or wooden planks, to immobilize the arm. While the contoured plastic versions might be less uncomfortable than a straight splint, their effectiveness depends upon how well they match with the natural curvature of the particular patient's arm. Consequently, a number of different sized and shaped immobilizers would have to be in inventory in order to have one that fits a particular patient. It is an objective of the present invention to provide a comfortable, slightly flexible arm immobilizer that can be used with a wide variety of arm sizes.